This invention is related to a machine for cutting shrimp, and, more specifically, to an apparatus for cutting intermediate joints of shrimp bodies while leaving a first joint and last joint intact.
Shrimp-cutting and deveining machines have existed for a number of years. An early version is shown in U.S. Pat. No. 2,702,921 to Pinney. Pinney, however, had several disadvantages. First, the machine used a feed drum to support the shrimp, which placed severe limitations on the degree of control provided to an operator during the cutting process. Second, the machine did not enable rapid adjustment of the cutting depth in accordance with the size and thickness of the shrimp. Third, the cutting mechanism was inside an enclosure, thus making cleaning and sanitization difficult.
Another existing shrimp-cutting and deveining machine is shown in U.S. Pat. No. 5,290,199 to Morris. Morris discloses an improvement of the shrimp-cutting machine in Pinney by creating a more sanitary machine with a closed housing for a motor and drive mechanism, and by mounting the cutting mechanism externally and covering it with a protective shield. Morris provided the capability to adjust the depth of the cut by rotating an adjusting knob on the side of the housing, but utilized a polycarbonate idler roller similar to the feed drum in Pinney to support the bottom of the shrimp during the cutting process. The idler roller limited the adjustment capabilities, and the adjustment process was time consuming and could not be performed dynamically as shrimp bodies of different sizes were fed through the machine.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,569,065 to Sawyer et al. improved on the Morris machine by utilizing two pairs of rotating flexible disks, an upper pair to grasp the top side of shrimp bodies and propel them past a cutting disk, and a lower pair to grasp the bottom side of the shrimp bodies and to dynamically adjust to shrimp bodies of different sizes. The Sawyer machine could also make a “butterfly” cut in which it completely cut through the front portion of a shrimp body while leaving at least one of the tail sections intact.
U.S. Pat. No. 7,467,992 to Sawyer disclosed an apparatus and method for belly-cutting shrimp. A curved, V-shaped guide channel was used to guide the underside of the shrimp bodies past a circular cutting blade, which belly-cut the shrimp to a depth determined by adjusting the position of the guide channel.